


James R. Rhodes: General, Superhero, Rocket Scientist

by Kakushigo



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: (well - Freeform, Everyone loves Rhodey, Gen, It's literally all about Rhodey, Not everyone, Rhodey is a real hero, Rhodey is really smart, Rhodey kicks ass, but those who don't are assholes), fictional biography
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-08-28 09:39:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8440687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kakushigo/pseuds/Kakushigo
Summary: Everyone knows him as War Machine, Tony Stark's best friend.  They might even be able to recount every moment of his life from the day Tony Stark declared him to be the only liaison with the United States Armed Forces that Stark Industries would work with.  But this is before all that, the secret moments in the life of Gen. James Rupert Rhodes, with his family and his friends.  From when he entered the world a squalling child to quiet moments with his niece.





	1. A Letter to the Readers

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the unofficial, fictional biography of James Rhodes! It's written post CW (later MCU movies may be incorporated, but they also might not be). The biographer is Riri Williams- some of you might recognize that name but you also might not. That's okay. Not knowing who she is won't stop you from understanding what's going on, especially since she's only in the first three 'chapters.' Please enjoy!
> 
> (Also note: I've written this for NaNoWriMo. That often means I'm writing and publishing it the same day. I have no beta, I'm the only proofreading it gets. See an issue? Let me know, either in the comments here or privately at kakushigo.tumblr.com)

Dear Readers,

I honestly had no idea what I was getting into when I started researching for this book.  I just knew what I wanted: to learn more about General James Rhodes, the man behind the War Machine armor.  I’d heard about the man fleeting in magazines, on the news, and always longed to know more.  It was hard growing up without role models.  There were a few others (Uhura especially comes to mind) but here is a man who not only overcame incredible adversity but thrived under it. 

The general has been my pet project for years, but it was a labor of love.  Nearly ten years of my life devoted to this book and hardly a second wasted except for the times I decided to hop on Facebook or Tumblr and realized nine hours later I’d only written a couple of words down and I’d forgotten to Skype Roberta.   At the same time, I’d often end up spending hours in MIT’s media room scouring old newspapers for mentions of Mr. Stark and the General.  It’s been an edifying experience and I hope you enjoy reading about General Rhodes as much as I enjoyed writing about him. 

If you’re reading this book for a school assignment, I’d suggest reading Early Life chapter and the Afghanistan Months.  While no part of General Rhodes’ history lacks color, those two chapters pack a boatload of rebellion into them.  General Rhodes’ might be the Air Forces’ golden boy, but he’s got a wild streak all his own.

Sincerely,

Riri


	2. Acknowledgements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riri thanks those who've helped her write her book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a few personal headcanon things in here that one can ignore, they aren't all that important to the plot- Mrs. Pepper Hogan. I love Pepper Potts/Happy Hogan so much. I doubt they'll be together in the MCU but I can hope.   
> Rocky Rhodes- I needed a name for Jeanette's husband. I jokingly made this suggestion to a friend. It's been his name ever since.

There are a great many people who helped me shape this book.  Many of them were strangers to me, people only met fleetingly and ones who hardly stayed long enough for their names to be remembered.  There’s the barista who knows my coffee order by heart and didn’t mind me coming in at odd hours muttering about wives’ tales and myth versus fiction versus reality.  The help desk at MIT who often helped me find missing years’ worth of magazines and newspapers, even going so far as to find copies of Gen. Rhodes Master’s Thesis and Doctorate projects.  A few people who went to MIT with General Rhodes, who told me about their class schedules and gave estimate on how tough certain courses had been.  Professors, former Commanding Officers for General Rhodes, General Rhodes’ trainees, and various Stark Industries’ professionals who all had something to say about General Rhodes.

And yet there are others, those who I have come to count as family after spending so much time with them.  My dearest Lila Rhodes, who I met while writing this book and fell in love with.  Tony Stark, who found me and gave me a wealth of knowledge beyond what I had ever dreamed of getting my hands on.  Pepper Hogan, who came with Mr. Stark and helped me with quite a few bits of legal jargon when it came to what I was and wasn’t allowed to publish about the General’s life.  To this day, Mrs. Hogan, I profess you’ve saved at the very least my sanity.

Roberta Rhodes, who is truly a god among people, welcoming a veritable stranger into her house and treated her like family.   Jeanette and Rocky Rhodes, sister and brother-in-law to the General, who not only taught me ASL but also gave me most of the fun blackmail on the General. Just talking to them, one knows how close they are to the General.  And finally, for General Rhodes himself for inspiring me to believe in myself.  The only hero one ever truly needs is the one that is inside all of us. 

Even for my tastes, it is a bit sappy but Mr. Stark insists that’s just how it is when anyone spends enough time in close contact with the Rhodes family.  I’m inclined to take his word on it.


	3. Chapter 3

_For my fiancée, Lila Rhodes.  And for all those who were a child (and those who still are) like me: that you may be inspired by one of the greatest among us._

_And for General James Rhodes, that the collective memory of the world never forget you._


	4. Early Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From newborn to 16, James Rhodes kept busy. Not necessarily accomplishments that would awe the world, sometimes they were small victories, but victories none the less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there's something you'd like me to add/expound on, please let me know. I've never written anything like this before so I'm pretty lost. Think talking about his elementary school science experiments are important? I can do that.

James Rupert Rhodes was the eldest child of Terrence and Roberta Rhodes.  He was born October 8th, 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [1] where his parents lived at the time.   When Rhodey was born, Terrence was still a soldier in the United States Air Force and Roberta did clerical work.  Since Terrence was on leave around the time James was born, Roberta did not stop working and was the primary working parent of the household until Terrence went back overseas a few days after Rhodey’s first birthday. 

Four years later, on May 12th, his younger sister Jeanette Rhodes was born. [2]  Terrence was overseas at the time and would not see Jeanette until she was two.  By that time, doctors had already declared Jeanette permanently deaf.  In light of this all of the Rhodes’ family learned ASL so they could easily communicate with each other.  Jeanette quickly picked it up and was a very bright child, but the Rhodes could not afford the costs of sending her to a private school for deaf children, so Jeanette was homeschooled from a very early age, unlike her elder brother who religiously attended public schooling.

The happy family’s life was greatly disturbed in May of 1976, when Terrence Rhodes died serving in the Air Force.[3]  He had been stationed overseas in South Vietnam for several months before he died.  Thankfully, his body was recovered and he was able to be buried in Arlington Nation Cemetery in July of 1976.   He was survived by his wife and two children.[4]

For years after that, what was left of the Rhodes family continued functioning in a fashion normal to them.  Roberta was a single mother who never remarried and continued to support her family by herself.  James attended public intercity schools where he was in the top 1% of his class while Jeanette often when to work with Roberta and entertained herself there.   As her mother worked, Jeanette would often engage in her own studies, which were mostly math and art based.   Other important subjects were encouraged by her mother, but Jeanette had little to no interest in them, even if she would read books on the subject if provided.  Librarians at their local library called the two Rhodes siblings “hungry for knowledge.”  One or both of them almost always had a book in hand or project they were working on. 

In late June of 1982, James was arrested for the first time.[5]  The charges reads that he was disturbing the peace and committing aggravated assault.  The facts are a bit different then the fact sheet in this instance.  Getting the real details for the case is never easy, especially with sealed juvenile records.  Many members of the Rhodes’ neighbors showed up and a few were even character witnesses.  None of them believe that James would ever hurt someone on purpose.   He has always been terrible protective of people younger than him and people who were in delicate situations.  In the end and despite what many people outside the jury thought, he is found guilty and is sentenced to six months in prison.  It is a juvenile detention center, instead of an adult prison which is what had been first suggested for ‘the

James was released a few months before Christmas of that same year.  And right after he is released, he ends up in another fight.  It is the middle of winter and he and his mother are walking home from the detention center when he sees a group of kids ganging up on another one of the neighborhood kids.  He does not know the child very well, by his own admission, but he steps in as others are throwing icy spheres at him and yelling racist slurs at the child.  But this time he decided it would be better to take a long distance approach.  He made ice balls and launched them at the attacker.  The bully and the bullied are both hospitalized and for James’ troubles, he gets arrested and charged again.[6]  It is nearly the same charges before and he gets another six months for his troubles. James had personally been the target of a few bullies as the elder brother to a deaf sister and being small then others, but he'd been a scrappy fighter and managed to scare most of them away.  In juvenile detention, it was much the same way.  He was smaller than most kids his age, but he was strong in ways they never expected.  The kids he had stepped in to protect had not been quite in the same boat.  Even in juvenile detention, he tended to stand up for those who were on the bottom of the pecking order.  He did not get involved in any cliques and he did not play scrap yard basketball.  He was a loner, but hardly unhappy for that decision. 

But he was finally working at his own pace in the detention center's school.  In his public intercity school he had elected to stay with kids his own age instead of skipping grade but in juvie he didn't have those friendly bonds to fall back on when he got bored so he just kept learning, soaking up information like a sponge.  By the time he left juvie, a year after his original arrest, he was light years ahead of his age peers.  There was no way that he could fall about to old habits and old cliques.  So instead of putting him back in public school, he was home schooled with his sister by his mother.  Only a few years later he was applying for colleges since she could teach him nothing more.  Among the college James applied to there was Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  MIT was duly impressed by the young man and granted him a nearly complete scholarship.  At 16, he left home to go study at MIT.  Roberta thought it was a bit young, but she would never tell her child no when it was something he so deeply wanted.  It helped that MIT provided James a nearly complete scholarship and several wealthy benefactors were duly impressed by his efforts and paid for the rest of his school, including room, board, and books.  Massachusetts was far from Philadelphia, but James could not imagine going anywhere else once he saw that MIT was an option. He had, at that time, wanted to be an astronaut and saw the only way to do that was to be the best in he could be.

 

[1] Birth Certificate for James R. Rhodes, 8th October 1968, File No. 28348831, Pennsylvania Board of Health.

[2] Birth Certificate for Jeanette P. Rhodes, 12th May 1972, File No. 29829001, Pennsylvania Board of Health.

[3] Death Certificate for Terrence Rhodes, May 2976, File No. 18248388, National Personnel Records Center

[4] “Obituary of Terrence Rhodes.”  _Philadelphia Enquirer._   7 July 1976.   B3. Print.

[5] James R. Rhodes v. Commonwealth of Philadelphia.  _Philadelphia Reports_.  Volume 483, page 288. United States District Court in the Northern District of Philadelphia.  PA, 1982.

[6] James R. Rhodes v. Commonwealth of Philadelphia.  _Philadelphia Reports._   Volume 499, page 281.  United States District Court in the Northern District of Philadelphia.  PA, 1983.


End file.
